Wednesday 1/25: Perfectly Queer presents Funny Bits: Humorous Stories from East Bay Queer Writers featuring Ajuan Mance, Willy Wilkinson, and Anna Pulley. Free, 7 p.m., The Octopus Literary Salon.
John Else (True South: Henry Hampton and “Eyes on the Prize,” the Landmark Television Series That Reframed the Civil Rights Movement) in conversation with Spencer Nakasako and Orlando Bagwell. Free, 7 p.m., City Lights.
Rachel Cusk reads from her novel Transit, the second work of a trilogy that began with Outline (a New York Times 10 Best Books selection for 2015). Free, 7:30 p.m., Green Apple Books on the Park.
Thursday 1/26: ZYZZYVA presents its Winter Release Party! Readings by contributors Kathleen Alcott, Ella Martinsen Gorham, Matthew Zapruder, and Scott O’Connor. Free, 7 p.m., DIESEL, A Bookstore.
Poetry Flash presents Rachel Richardson (Hundred Year Wave) and Martin Rock (Residuum). Free, 7:30 p.m., Moe’s Books.
Saturday 1/28: Oakland Review celebrates the release of Edition #4 hosted by editors Paul Corman-Roberts, J de Salvo, Vernon Keeve III, and Laura Zink. Lineup of readers depends upon availability, but will be selected from over two dozen respected East Bay writers. Should be quite a party! Free, 7:30 p.m., Ale Industries.
Saturday Night Special presents its first event of 2017: an “Animal” open mic (strict three-minute limit) along with features MK Chavez and Alexandra Kostoulas. Always interesting and unusual. And if you stick around after, there’s karaoke! Free, 7 p.m. (for signups), Nick’s Lounge.
Sunday 1/29: Poetry Flash offers a burst of psychedelic light when they celebrate Far Out: Poems of the 60s, a collection of seventy-eight writers from the period. Participating readers: Judith Arcana, Chana Bloch, Lucille Lang Day, Sandra Gilbert, and Kathleen Winter. Free, 3 p.m., DIESEL, A Bookstore.
Paulette Jiles reads from News of the World, which has been longlisted for the National Book Award in Fiction. Free, 4 p.m., Book Passage in Corte Madera.
Monday 1/30: Bay Area Generations Edition #41 presents its unique blend of paired intergenerational readers. Featuring Lyndsey Ellis + Norma Smith, Laura A. Zink + Jon Sindell, Dee Allen + Richard Sanderell, Henry Davis + Dennis Estrada, and Clyde Always + Stephen Kopel. $7 ($10 w/souvenir chapbook). 6:30 p.m. (“writers’ mixer”), 7:30 p.m. (show starts), Hotel Rex.
Susan Sherman (The Little Russian) reads from her novel about science and séances set in Paris in the early 1900s. Free, 7 p.m., Book Passage in Corte Madera.
Tuesday 1/31: Kevin Wilson (The Family Fang) reads from his newest novel, Perfect Little World. Free, 7:30 p.m., The Booksmith.
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This week’s theatre recommendation is Marin Theatre Company’s West Coast premiere of Nambi E. Kelly’s stage adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son. This play had an extremely successful world premiere at Chicago’s Court Theatre in 2014. The present production features Jerod Haynes as Bigger, the part he created for the world premiere, making his debut performance with the Marin Theatre Company. Read more here.
For coverage of the Bay Area theatre scene, visit TheatreStorm.
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Evan Karp and Rebecca Samuelson of Litseen present video of this week’s featured local author, Joe Wadlngton. Read an interview here.
And here’s video of one of last week’s SF Notables, Esmé Weijun Wang.
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If you have a Bay Area event listing you’d like us to consider for Notable SF, please contact [email protected] as far in advance as possible, and include the date of the event in the subject line.
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Logo art by Max Winter.
